File Photo - Some houses on the Jersey Shore were vacant and boarded up after Hurricane Sandy.Ashley Peskoe/NJ.com

MONMOUTH COUNTY – More than five months after Hurricane Sandy struck the region, police departments in storm-ravaged towns are still working to protect residents and their vacant homes from thieves looking to make a quick buck.

However, the extent to which these thefts have struck area property owners varies from town to town, with some seeing an impact right after the storm and others seeing more as residents return home.

Highlands police Capt. Henry Clagett said his department has seen an increase in reports of small burglaries and thefts as residents returned to their homes.

He said the vacancies have left fewer neighbors in the area to look out for each other’s homes.

However, in Union Beach, police Chief Scott Woolley said there was an increase in thefts after the storm, but that he has since noticed a gradual decrease in reported incidents in the borough.

“Right after the storm we had people coming in, taking appliances and everything else just to try to sell them for scrap, but a lot of that stuff is out of the houses now as they’re getting rebuilt and repaired,” Woolley said.

Last month, a woman who returned to her Union Beach home found squatters inside with other stolen items. A similar incident was reported in Toms River last week, after a township employee was charged with stealing copper from a storm-damaged house.

State police have added patrols in Union Beach, and local police are also keeping an eye out for suspicious people. Woolley said police are also checking on areas where houses are being torn down, and patrols are keeping an eye out for suspicious people, asking any they come across for identification.

“As people see them around, they’re just so, so grateful that the extra patrols are there, watching over their homes and properties,” Woolley said. “Most of the problems we have are from people outside of town coming in, trying to scrap, but the people in town are trying to do everything they can.”

Woolley said these issues compound the frustrations for storm victims, as they try to rebuild and return to their homes, often without getting their questions answered or the money they expected to rebuild.

“I know a lot of the people, their patience are getting thin because they’re not getting what they’re looking for from the insurance companies or FEMA,” Woolley said.

Manasquan police Chief Elliott Correia said his officers also make regular patrols of that borough’s hard-hit areas.

“There is a heightened awareness, because we have a lot of empty houses here that can still be vulnerable to people with bad intentions,” Correia said.

Correia said his department was prepared for an increase of reported break-ins, but that it has not yet been as prevalent of an issue in Manasquan as expected.

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“An increase in break-ins and things like that were things we thought we could expect by this point,” Correia said. “But there are quite a lot of homes here that people have not entered or dealt with in some time. And as more and more people start to get back to their homes, we might see more of them reporting that they have things missing.”